Mind Games
by TheVideoGamer
Summary: A fairly normal day in the Phantomhive Manor leads to a full-out war of clever remarks and subtle gestures, bringing about what couldn't be anything other than Ciel's own impending doom... Or at least, that's what it feels like. And what's the cause of all of this in the first place? Perhaps it's all in his head... but then again, maybe it isn't. SebaCiel. Rating will likely rise.


Ciel Phantomhive was cunning. He was smart, he was strategic. But most of all, he was exceptional at masking his emotions.

The young earl himself was walking down the main steps of his manor. He stopped at the landing that joined the two staircases together and combined them into one. He had no immediate appointments today, and knew that he'd best be in his office getting some paperwork out of the way.

But he couldn't put his mind into it.

The boy sighed quietly and looked out into the foyer. His eyes darted from the great chandelier above his head, to the grand main doorway to the manor, then down to his shiny black shoes.

He was so scared.

...Things had been happening. Strange things. Things that he really wasn't comfortable with.

He watched his butler step into the foyer, his shiny black loafers making satisfying little claps on the floor. Ciel knew he was aware of the boy's presence - Sebastian was never caught off guard - but he didn't offer so much as a bow or a sincere greeting, as a good servant would. And that was because he was playing that game where he pretended not to be aware of something so that he could avoid a small duty. Something that really got on Ciel's nerves.

He was a very good butler, there was no doubt about that, but he was also a demon. And he liked to play subtle little games. Perhaps it was the only enjoyment he got out of this job, but Ciel liked to think sometimes that Sebastian had more passion in it than that.

"Sebastian." This type of behavior could only go unrecognized for so long.

The butler turned and smiled a close-eyed smile at his master. "Good afternoon, Young Master."

Ciel walked down a few steps and leaned one arm against the banister of the stairs. "Did you not notice me before?"

A slight chuckle. But it felt more like a snicker to Ciel. "I suppose not, Sir."

"Really." It didn't come out like a question at all. Just a sharp, sour-tasting response.

Sebastian shot him another smile. But Ciel figured he was making it look fake on purpose.

"Sebastian, what kind of game are you-" he was suddenly cut off as a low grinding sound broke out from the railway he was leaning against. The Phantomhive Manor was newly rebuilt after the fire, but it appeared that this was a particularly weak section of the mahogany. It splintered and split, and the earl didn't have time to react before falling backward toward the ground. It was far too large a fall off the staircase - he was definitely about to break a bone, or worse.

As a long pair of arms solidified beneath him to catch the boy's body, he immediately remembered that there was no reason to fear. He heard that cynical laugh again, but much closer this time. Right above his head, smiling down at him, was the demon.

"Well, I'll have to fix that railing right away, won't I?"

Ciel looked away to hide his face. This was a nightmare. First it was just the thoughts, but now he was in physical contact with the very epicenter of his problem. And as much as a part of him wanted to stay in the butler's arms… no.

He wouldn't allow a thought like that to slip through to the front of his mind. He pushed it farther back and waited until Sebastian put him down. "I'm going back to my office. I have far too much work today."

"I'll begin preparing your lunch as soon as I clean up this mess," Sebastian said as Ciel quickly began to trudge back up the stairs.

The earl was pissed now. He slammed the door to his office louder than he should have (because he quickly realized that the demon probably heard it) and sat down at his desk with a violent cross of his arms.

Sebastian really wasn't making this easy for him - in fact, since he was such a creature to play mind games, perhaps it wasn't actually a surprise to Sebastian that the banister was loose. After all, as mentioned before, nothing goes unnoticed by the demon. Especially something pertaining to his duties as a butler.

Of course he'd known the railing was loose.

So why didn't he tell Ciel?

The earl picked up a pen and signed his signature on one of the papers in front of him. He was so distracted that he hadn't even read it.

"I can't think anything of this..." He mumbled quietly, "a demon will play demon's games. There's nothing more than that and if I think there is..." He shook his head slightly and dropped the pen onto the wooden surface. "Then there is simply more wrong with me than I initially anticipated."

Two sharp knocks.

The lord's head snapped upward to see the shadows of his butler's feet under the door. "Young Master, I've brought your lunch."

Good God, not him again...

He decided not to spare that deranged part of him any satisfaction. He swung his chair around to face the window. No temptations, no problems.

"Come in." He heard the door open. "You can leave it on the desk and I'll eat it later."

The butler walked in slowly.

Step, step, step.

Surely, he was taunting Ciel again, but-

Wait.

The boy's single working eye shot open in a moment of panic. There was no way the butler… already knew about this, right?

But, then again, Sebastian never missed a thing.

No… there's no way. Unless he could look into the lord's mind, unless Ciel had somehow made it obvious… maybe he had?

No. The butler was just walking slowly. There was absolutely no reason to assume that because the butler was walking slowly that he had any idea about the problem going on inside Ciel's head. Last time the earl checked, demons couldn't read minds. But of course, it isn't like he ever asked…

He heard the plate contact the surface of the desk with a gentle clink, and expected to hear the same steady beat of footsteps again, but that's not what happened.

A white, gloved hand gripped the edge of his seat and Ciel could feel the slight swing of his desk chair suddenly come to a halt. What the bloody hell was Sebastian doing?!

"Young Master, you seem different lately. Is there something you're not telling me?"

Ciel ignored the butler and crossed his arms. He figured that if he tried to make up an excuse, his denial would be even less convincing than silence. But he regretted not even making an attempt as soon as his demon spoke again.

"I highly recommend that if something is bothering you, you tell me. Communication is key between a servant and his master, is it not?"

He refused to acknowledge the butler again, and he figured Sebastian was frowning now. Though he didn't know why - it wasn't like the demon actually cared about his feelings. That much, he was sure of.

A slight sigh came from the butler behind him. He was actually starting to feel a bit guilty for being so rude and he was terrified that if he turned to face Sebastian, either the guilt or the terror would show through his stoic face. He was always so good at wearing a mask that he didn't think a single thing about lying under normal circumstances.

But this was Sebastian.

Truthfully, he didn't actually have any proof that Sebastian would see through his fake expression. It just… seemed likely. Not only were the servant's battle strategies as polished and flawless as previously mentioned, but Sebastian also knew him. And probably better than anyone else.

...In that case, the boy began to wonder why he even bothered keeping his mouth shut in the first place.

A confliction immediately came over him. On one hand, he didn't have to tell the butler anything, and Sebastian would likely drop it after a while. But on the other, it was not only possible that the butler already knew about the problem, but possible that deep down, Ciel wanted him to know.

And perhaps that was why he didn't say anything when the butler asked him if something was wrong, confirming Sebastian's suspicion that, in fact, something was wrong.

Perhaps that's why Ciel didn't struggle out of the butler's grasp when he saved the earl from a fall earlier that day.

...Ah, hell! Perhaps he should just tell Sebastian right n-

"Young Master?" The demon's softened tone shook Ciel from his thoughts.

"Oh, what?"

"You appear to have wandered off for a moment there. Something must be the matter. I'm certain of it."

Ciel turned his head to face him. "Why are you so persis-"

He immediately wished he hadn't.

The demon - the butler - the servant, whatever he was… Sebastian was giving him a genuine look of concern.

It almost hurt a little bit. Ciel almost cut himself on the sharp edges of his next thought. Of course this was all an act. Fake passion, for a fake role in society. Sebastian wasn't truly even a butler, anyway.

Ciel looked down at his shoes for the second time that day, unable to handle it any longer. "Drop the act of compassion. It's not worth your time."

"Is it not my duty to keep you satisfied, whether I'm a Phantomhive butler, or a demon?"

Ciel shrugged to that. "I don't know. You tell me. I just wear the contract. You created it."

The butler snickered. This time, it wasn't just one of those maybe-it-was-a-snicker snickers, it was definitely a snicker.

Ciel looked back up at him angrily. "What's so bloody amusing?!"

"You, Young Master. I'm sorry, it's terribly rude of me." The butler took a short bow. "But to see you so wound up over such a ridiculous thing is just so entertaining for me."

Ciel turned back around, his heart tearing just a little bit. "Say no more." If he heard so much as another sentence, he figured his heart would rip right down the middle.

"Ah, but I haven't finished, Young-"

"I said I don't want to hear your shit!" Ciel stood up from his chair, now seething with rage. He whipped his body around to glare daggers into his butler's slender frame, hoping just a bit that if he glared hard enough, he'd get Sebastian's heart to tear too.

Needless to say, it worked to an extent. The butler's face was one of shock - he was taken aback, if anything. But Ciel wasn't sure if it was simply caused by the sudden outrage, or by Ciel's rejection of his words.

He couldn't take it. Ciel didn't want to hear his fears confirmed with such condescending statements by the butler that showed they were allies and nothing more. At this point, he'd given up on caring about the morality of the situation. If he wanted his problem fixed, he couldn't just lay a band-aid over the wound and expect it to heal up on its own, no matter how much sense it seemed to make in the beginning. No, he needed to treat it. He needed to get, at the very least, a form of closure between him and his problem.

He needed to tell Sebastian the truth.

But he couldn't.

As the earl stomped out of his study, the last thing he thought to himself was that he'd finally let his mask down and shared some of his true emotions - even if they weren't the ones he wanted to share.

He made one glance over his shoulder before turning a sharp right into the hallway.

Sebastian's gaze was on him. One arm crossed over his chest, one holding up his chin. It was as if he was thinking, 'Tsk tsk tsk… what to do with this boy.'

But despite everything, his face was back to that usual smirk.

There was only one conclusion to draw from all of this, right? Well, no. There were two.

Ciel thought all of this on his march down the hallway, to the foyer, and right up to the broken railing. He stopped and stared down at the floor, so far below him and so easy to reach with nothing but a trip or a careless step.

Either Sebastian was truly just a soulless demon with nothing up his sleeve but mind games…

Ciel found himself rubbing his hands over the smooth mahogany, up until he reached the choppy, ruined end of the railing that formed the beginning of the gap where he'd fallen. It was a collection of splinters and spikes, sticking straight out like a weapon. He rubbed an index finger over each sharp, wooden edge, feeling the danger. Feeling the risk.

...Or Sebastian already knew everything.

After all, nothing went unnoticed by the demon.


End file.
